| An opera in three acts by Carlos Chavez |
LIBRETTO by Chester Kallman
Place: A villa in the hills of Tuscany
Time:The fourteenth century
First performed in the Bander Matthews Theater, Columbia University, New
York, April 1957 under the name of PANFILO AND LAURETTA
Definitive version first performed in the Teatro Juarez, International
Festival of Cervantino, Guanajuato, Mexico, 2 October 1999. |
| Cast: |
Lauretta/Psyche/Mary Magdalen/Eve (Soprano)
Elissa/Venus/Procuress/Lilith (Mezzosoprano)
Panfilo/Cupid/Centurion/Adam (Tenor)
Dioneo/Sadducee/Satan (Baritone)
Leader of the Chorus/Monk/Luxury/Physician (Bass) |
| SYNOPSIS: |
| Act I. The scene is
set in the prologue by the Leader of the Chorus and choir. During
an outbreak of the plague, four privileged Italians have secluded
themselves in a villa. They entertain themselves by putting on
plays. The curtain opens on the love triangle between Panfilo,
a soldier in love with the young, vain, distracted Lauretta who
bearly acknowledges his existence, much to the chagrin of his
discarded, older lover Elissa, whom they treat as a servant.
Dioneo, the poet and director of their plays, tries to calm the
troubled waters by suggesting they rehearse their representation
of Cupid and Psyche. Panfilo´s feelings for Lauretta find
their expression in the part of Cupid, and Elissa has the opportunity
to intervene as Venus. The rehearsal is interupted by the sound
of a passing funeral procession. They try to ignore it but as
it passes, they become confused, forget their lines and Elissa´s
Venus becomes especially violent venting her insult and jealousy.
The rehearsal falls to pieces. Their domestic strife and isolation
are put to a sudden end by a loud hammering on the door. |
| Act II. The curtain rises
where we left off. The knocking continues. Dioneo and Lauretta
are unable to stop Panfilo and Elissa from opening the doors. Enter
the monk (Leader of the Chorus), thrilled to find that he has interrupted
a rehearsal, he immediatly takes over the group of thespians, casting
Dioneo as a sadducee, Panfilo as a centurion, Elissa as Jerusalem´s
procuress, Lauretta as Mary Magdalen being sold into prostitution
for the first time, and himself as Luxury. Mary is sold to the
centurion by the procuress and Luxury, and Panfilo deflowers Lauretta
in the climax of their play. The monk has already set the stage
for his second ecclesiastic play. Elissa is now Lilith, Adam´s
soulless first wife. Satan (Dioneo) tries to tempt her with the
apple but she rejects him. He goes to seek Eve. Adam (Panfilo)
is surprised when Eve (Lauretta, still in the disheveled, torn
costume of Magdalen) enters with her nakedness covered. Wanting
to teach him shame, she offers him the half-eaten, forbidden fruit.
As he bites into the apple, the monk throws open the doors, letting
in the motley crowd from outside. While proclaiming the monk as
their savior, he dies suddenly of the plague. As the horror sets
in the four characters turn on each other. While the accusations
and insults fly in a tone of measured hatred, the crowd takes over
the house, their voices raised in an apocalyptic prayer, some kicking
the dead body of the monk. |
| Act III. It is
two months later. In the villa’s courtyard, shortly before
sunrise, people huddle on the ground; some asleep, others ill or
dying. A physician (Leader of the Chorus) makes his rounds, every
so often covering his patient’s face, to be borne off silently
by two assistants. Dioneo has been tormented by nightmares. He
asks after Lauretta who has miraculously survived the plague. Lauretta
enters leaning heavily on Elissa, who has lovingly nursed her back
to health. She is told that Panfilo has gone to the city. The dawn
seems to bring hope, until the Doctor congratulates Lauretta on
her pregnancy. In horrified shock, Lauretta now realises that the
past events were not, as she was led to believe, a feverish hallucination.
After a hysterical outburst, she collapses. Panfilo returns, scornfully
rejecting Elissa´s gestures of welcome. Lauretta rebukes
him for this. Drained and cynical he tells of his hellish experience
in the city. Elissa points out that the plague has ravaged
their safe haven too, and informs him that Lauretta has narrowly
escaped death. Lauretta intervenes and declares her love to Panfilo.
Reconciled, they leave Elissa feeling betrayed, now not only by
Panfilo but also Lauretta. Dioneo takes her aside, in a gentle
and light-hearted sermon he teaches her to embrace the past and
the future, and to forgive. She notices that he has a raging fever,
he confides to her that he has little life left in him. The doctor
asks them to entertain the convalescents with a play. They complete
their play of Cupid and Psyche. Venus, the goddess of love, forgives
them both their disobedience and grants Psyche immortality. Dioneo
witnesses their redemption before dying. Their child shall be known
as Joy. |
| Synopsis by Irene
Strachan |
|
 |
Alejandro
Giacomán
de Neymet © 1997-2024 D.R. |
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